We are excited to announce the addition of Washington Post Historical to our databases. This archive, from the ProQuest organization, offers full-text searching of every available issue of the Washington Post and Washington Post/Times-Herald, from 1877 to 1996 with digital page and image reproductions. The historical coverage will expand annually, by one year. To seek recent (1977-present) Washington Post articles, see the Lexis Nexis Academic database.

How did this publication begin? The name stuck. The first issue contained this letter:
“To the Editor of the Post: I am heart and soul in sympathy with your enterprise, but I am sorry that I did not see you in time, to induce you to call your paper the Washington Statesman. However, the name that you have selected is good enough for me.”

Try your own search. See if history repeats itself. The first issue included an editorial from “Mr. Hayes recent message to Congress,” in which he comments on the eight year insurrection in Cuba and calls for the United States to do something besides abstain from intervention. Or see if this Italian stargazer’s New Year’s predictions for 1960 came true.

The Washington Post Historical archive joins the previously subscribed to Historical New York Times, providing full-text coverage of the New York Times from 1851 to the early 2000’s.

As an added bonus, both databases may be searched together:

1. Click on the yellow arrow at the top left corner of the search screen in either newspaper archive:

2. In the drop-down database menu, select both archives and click “Use selected databases” at the bottom right after making your selection.